The Disadvantages of an Elite Education: Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su08/elite-deresiewicz.html

Remember, we were talking about the phrase “white supremacist capitalist homophobic patriarchy.” Maybe now you agree with me that the use of this phrase in the article is an irrelevant shock tactic, at best.

The second part is more than irresponsible – it’s impossible. A statement like that would require proof (and an objective definition of the stereotype’s aspects). We’re on the same page.

“Quoth Robert: “I agree that the victims of stereotypes often play into them, but this is often a result of ignorance and/or a desire to appear nonthreatening; it by no means justifies the use of stereotypes as a political tool for the right or the left.”

I know where you’re coming from with this, and in politics it seems that there are all sorts of things you can’t say (even if they’re true) simply because your hive-minded constituents will automatically take everything to the extreme.

But – in what context is it okay to bring up stereotypes? Everybody rails against them. But what of the Bill Cosby types who hold these stereotypes up in the faces of people who fit them, and say “Knock it off?” Better that, however painful, than more crap like ‘Soul Plane.’ IMO.

Quoth Robert: “I don’t know if this is even true. It probably depends how you define “prefer” and “squeamish.” In any case, it’s a leap to call the first part “white supremacism” and the second part “homophobia.””

Agreed. But I’ve met plenty of people who’ve shown that preference (among multiple ethnicities) and that squeamishness. I’d call none of them racists or homophobes – I’d reserve those terms for people who are aware of their prejudices and consciously cultivate them.

Nice to talk to someone with a brain.

“Both stereotypes are fully justified….Stereotypes persist because people see them and say, ‘Well, since 50 Cent looks like me and he’s a gangsta, that must mean I should be a gangsta.’”

It seems there are two things we might mean when we call a stereotype “justified.” We might mean that the majority of people in the target group really do behave as the stereotype suggests. Or we might mean that it’s OK to assume that everyone in the target group behaves that way. You might be right about the first part, but the second part is wildly irresponsible and leads, at its extreme, to ghettoism and genocide. I agree that the victims of stereotypes often play into them, but this is often a result of ignorance and/or a desire to appear nonthreatening; it by no means justifies the use of stereotypes as a political tool for the right or the left.

Note also that thinking, “I should be a gangsta,” implies a frame of reference according to which it is at least theoretically possible not to be a gangsta.

“Yes, most Americans are white…”

This probably isn’t going to be true for very much longer.

“…and prefer to be around other whites, and are squeamish about the gays.”

I don’t know if this is even true. It probably depends how you define “prefer” and “squeamish.” In any case, it’s a leap to call the first part “white supremacism” and the second part “homophobia.”

Both stereotypes are fully justified. That there are always exceptions doesn’t change that. Add to that the fact that when people are presented with a stereotype of themselves day in and day out, they usually emulate it. If an Afghan guy is surrounded by other Afghan guys telling him that being an Afghan guy means being a misogynist zombie, rare is the guy who’ll say ‘I beg to differ.’ How will he, and from what frame of reference? Stereotypes persist because people see them and say, “Well, since 50 Cent looks like me and he’s a gangsta, that must mean I should be a gangsta.”

This is the main thing that pisses me off about Obama – not that he played politics to get ahead, but that he talks about how wonderful and decent and smart people are, when they’re not. I know the guy’s trying to get elected, and that Hallmark bullshit is required. But damn. To watch someone with that IQ kissing up to cattle turns my stomach. Well. That’s his problem. I wonder if it’ll ever be possible to lead a social movement without composing it of lemmings.

Yes, most Americans are white and prefer to be around other whites, and are squeamish about the gays. Whether they want to feel that way or not. Capitalists? Well, depends on what you consider capitalism.

You say you’re not a racist. Like anyone can be taken seriously when they say that. Everyone has racial prejudices – you get all the kudos I’ve got if you’re conscious of them and try to remember to judge people face-to-face. That’s the best anyone has ever done.

But to tell you the truth I’ll never give a shit about the poor starving babies in Africa (as if Earth can support more people anyway). They’d better go the Japanese route and come back with steel-assed battleships if they expect me to acknowledge their existence. In the face of such BS as this government, religion, and the various other forms of fascism, Earth needs to be as hot a crucible as possible. All the things you’re talking about? Ha – they’ll have to get so much worse before the American people do anything effective.

People don’t always get what they deserve. Cultures do. Every single minute of every day, every culture on Earth is getting exactly what it had coming to it. That includes the native Americans, the Iraqis and my poor unsalvageable ‘brothers’ and ’sisters’ in Africa who were handed the European model of industry and failed to run with it.

I don’t want things to get better. Humanity does not deserve it yet. Right, wrong, whatever. Survival of the fittest is not a philosophy. It’s an observed phenomenon. Optimistically I’ve got another sixty years to live. I’m going to get mine, and I only trust people whose primary motive is as clear as that .

we must all do more if we really want to see a change.

In any case, as I said, there is a lot of good food for thought in this article, and I do encourage people to read it, so have linked to it from my blog. There is a slightly fuller criticism of it there:

http://idealism-not-cynicism.blogspot.com/2008/10/sound-of-freedom.html

I live in America. I’m not homophobic, nor a white-supremacist. If you didn’t find it a necessity to indict 300 million people so flippantly in your first paragraph, your viewpoints might gain more tract.

bravo.

bravo.

bravo.

finally someone other than me gets it.

But rather, the issue of how and when America will have the courage to not automatically take the safest route and simply believe the official version – the “feel good” way out of the issue. The issue of how and when America will have the courage to sanely examine the actual facts and evidence, as many good intelligent authoritative people have, and have the courage to work through the pain of facing the truth – that 9/11 was committed by a group of Americans in positions of power in the military / industrial / defence complexes. And finally the issue of what to do about it – of how and why fascists could take de facto control of the military, industrial and media of the world’s only superpower and blatantly get away with such an event.

The healing can only truly start once the truth is accepted. At the moment most Americans don’t even realise they have a problem – the problem of not believing the truth about 9/11.

*Not Nader & Paul Main Street